Lou Sylvre's Blog

Yes, that's right, Dreamspinner Press , publisher of fine slash romance (including among many others the Vasquz & James Series by Lou Sylvre ... Yes, that's me!) In May, the Press has been going strong for six great years!

*Through tomorrow May 5, they're offering every book in the catalog at 40% off.


*They are offering free books via Twitter--yes, the TweetAways everyone loved last year are back. Just watch Twitter for the announcements.


*This is really cool. Every Sunday, someone will win an e-reader . Excellent, Dreamspinner. Excellent.

Might be a Kindle


Might be a Nook

I can't believe I haven't posted since New Year's? Time has just slipped right through my fingers. Well, at long last I have something yummy to share in the world of Luki and Sonny.

Reese Dante's cover for Finding Jackie:



...and a little blurb to lure you!

Luki Vasquez and Sonny Bly James finally have their Hawaiian wedding, and it's perfect, almost. But their three-phase honeymoon is riddled with strife. Luki's status as a working badass spells discord for the newlyweds. A former informant from Luki’s days with ATFE brings a troubling message (or is it a warning?) from a Mob hit man. When Luki’s sixteen-year-old nephew, Jackie, is lured into capture and torture by a sadistic killer, the honeymoon is well and truly over.

The couple put aside their differences and focus on the grueling hunt, which takes them from leather bars to dusty desert back roads, and calls on Sonny’s deep compassion as well as Luki’s sharpest skills. Their world threatens to fall apart if they fail, but their love may grow stronger than ever if they succeed in finding Jackie—before it’s too late.

I'm thrilled that this is coming out soon from Dreamspinner Press. I don't have a release date yet, but I'll post it as soon as I do!

May 2013 shine for all our relations and friends!

Thanks to readers, reviewers, fans, and fellow writers for all the support and good times in 2012. Let's do it again!

Tomorrow, 12/21, at 2:00PM Eastern, my guest blog goes live at Long and Short Reviews, part of the Stuff Your Stocking blogfest. Instead of an interview or whatnot, this time I've indulged in a little holiday philosophizing. I'd of course love to know what you think about it. There's also an Christmas scene excerpt, and an ebook to be won. I hope you'll stop by. The following link isn't good until tomorrow at 2 PM EST, but I'll post it now because I'll be slaving at the day job at that time. Here it is:

Outside Looking In.

Or copy and paste into your browser's address bar, http://wcguest.blogspot.com/2012/12/s... .

Apparently Luki and Sonny have made a few people cry. Sorry. but not too sorry, because it got Yes: A Vasquez and Jams Novella nominated for the 2012 M/M Romance awards on Goodreads. Not surprisingly, in the best tear-jerking scene category. Thank you readers, for loving Luki Vasquez and Sonny James enough to make the nomination.

Here is the link to vote on all the categories, or click on the badge, above. Please vote, even if Luki and Sonny don't get your vote, show your pride. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Now, I don't know what scene from Yes is the tear jerker the nominators had in mind, but I can just about guarantee this is not it! I'm offering it just for the fun of it, and a little warmth on a winter's day. Hope you enjoy!

On New Year’s Eve, Sonny fell in love. With Luki, not for the first time. He used to fall in love with him regularly, but over the last months, it had happened rarely. Very. Not that he ever stopped loving him, but moments of heart-stopping I-love-him-so-much-I’m-gonna-die had fallen to the status of a vague hope for “someday.” But now, there Luki stood, breathing easily without oxygen, effects of chemo and prednisone dwindling—for the time being—radiation sickness beating a fast retreat. On New Year’s Eve, Sonny’s “someday” had come.

Across the living room—the only room in the rambling house still walled all the way around with the original, varnished logs—Luki held up his copy of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Sonny—who rarely watched movies, or television for that matter—privately wondered how any movie, especially one starring a bunch of stuffy Brits trying to be funny, could be so fantastic. Luki’s anticipation seemed almost boyish—though even after months of sickness, even stripped of hair, his body most certainly was not.

“C’mon, baby, let’s watch it,” Luki said. I can’t believe you’ve never seen it.”

Sonny followed him to the living room, sat in the chair and waited while he put the DVD in the player.

“No,” Luki said, tucking himself into a corner of the couch with his bare feet drawn up. “Sit over here with me. Please?”

The “please” was unnecessary, as far as Sonny was concerned.

Still, he wanted to be sure. Not long ago, Luki’s skin had been so sensitive it burned to be touched, and a body close to his made him sweat with heat. Quietly and probably too seriously, he asked, “It won’t bother you?”

“Please?”

So Sonny took up his station, laying curled up half behind Luki with his head miraculously ending up in the crook of Luki’s arm, just as if they were made to be braided together in that fashion.

Luki had discovered the joys of reading after he moved into Sonny’s house, and he especially liked to read aloud to Sonny. At those times this was how they would lay. Now, as always before, Luki stroked Sonny’s bare skin absently while they watched. It felt so sweet, so much like coming home that at first Sonny couldn’t follow the movie. Instead, he listened to Luki laughing, to his heart beating, to his breathing, soft and even.

But Luki had told the truth. Knights riding stick horses
discussing how much weight an African Swallow could carry and throwing cows at each other made him laugh—so hard he had to sit up and wipe his eyes. At a quiet point, he felt Luki’s eyes on him, thought maybe he needed something. But when he turned his head, Luki was gazing at him, his face alight with one of his slight but soul-deep smiles. Sonny tilted his head, questioning.

“Sonny. It has been so long since I’ve seen you laugh. Really laugh, with your whole heart in it.” He ran his thumb across Sonny’s lower lip. “It’s medicine. It might save my life.”

A reviewer known as amaadhatter at Three Crow Press said some very nice things about Delsyn's Blues, which of course makes me happy, and in turn makes me want to share. Click on the link above for the whole review, but she sums it up by saying this:

"This book deserves a solid 4 stars and Lou Sylvre is becoming one of my favorite authors."

She also mentions the need to have tissue nearby, and says she hopes the next book in the series will be out soon. Well, I'm not sure we can call it soon, but (as I'm sure I've mentioned) the next Vasquez and James suspense/romance, Finding Jackie is due out in late spring 2013. Stay tuned for updates!

In my last post, I mentioned the possibility that I'd come back with an excerpt from my current labors in the world of Vasquez and James. I selected a scene, and I post the start of it here. It's one of those pesky NSFW, 18+ type excerpts--in other words the guys are getting sexy again--so at the end of this post, I'll give you a link where you can find the rest. (It's posted on my wordpress blog, the excerpts page.) Parting the Clouds is still very much in the "in-progress" stage. By the time the work is done, this scene may have changed. Nevertheless, I wanted to share--it's very much "Luki and Sonny," the way they are together. This takes place right after Luki, who's been struggling with his own demons, rescues Sonny from an accidental near drowning. I hope you enjoy, and of course I'd love to hear what you think. ;)



Following the doctor’s orders was easy and in minutes, Sonny was wrapped up, the fire was stoked and hot coffee awaited Sonny’s readiness. Luki stripped off his own wet clothes and stood before the fire, warming his own cold ass, hands, and feet, then made good on the final step of the process for warming Sonny. Applying body heat. By now Sonny’s eyes fluttered open now and again, and his shivers had become intermittent. When Luki tried to lift his blankets to wrap himself inside with Sonny, Sonny clung to them.

“It’s all right, Sonny. I’m not going to take the blankets, I’m just going to lay down with you for a bit, okay?”

"Oh. S-s-sorry.”

“Don’t be, baby. No reason.” Luki lay down mostly on top of Sonny and wrapped the blankets around them both. Sonny’s shivers gradually left off, and at some point Luki found himself singing his favorite song by Etta James, “At last,” he crooned in a smoky whisper, “my love has come along.” Sonny sighed and relaxed under his touch. Luki thought maybe he’d fallen asleep again, but his eyes, though heavy-lidded, were open. “Are you warmer, Sweetie?”

“Yes… yeah. I’m good, now. I’m… Luki I know what it must have looked like but I didn’t mean to… I didn’t have any thoughts about….”

“Suicide. Okay, I believe you. But why did you swim out like you did?”

“I was just blowing off steam. It was really stupid—I know better. I’m glad you were there, Luki.” Here Sonny tilted his head to get a good view of Luki’s face, meet his eyes. “You saved me… I mean, you kept me safe, Luki. It’s what you do, right? Thank you.”

Luki sat up, letting Sonny’s long legs lie across his lap, and looked away. What could he say? What Sonny said was true—Luki had stepped into his protector role like superman changing in a phone booth. Once wearing the role that he’d nurtured over decades, it was like none of the stuff in between had ever happened. He just did what Luki Vasquez did best. He felt odd, now, like perhaps his actions of the afternoon bore some impact on the mess he had in general become. Like maybe he was almost Luki Vasquez, if he just didn’t make any missteps.

One thing he knew, to answer Sonny’s gratitude with the words, “you’re welcome” wouldn’t make any sense. Instead he said, “I made some coffee. When I talked to Donnell—”

“You called the doctor?”

“Yeah, I didn’t—”

“And even with the damn Scottish br-r-r-rogue you could understand him?”

Luki’s eyebrows went up, and he looked critically at Sonny. “Maybe I should call him back. He said if you were still disoriented… You never speak with a horribly fake Scottish accent unless you have shortbread.”

“I’m lucid.”

“No. I’m lucid. You’re Sonny. Do you want coffee, anyway?”

“In a minute. My feet are really cold, Luki. They hurt.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Donnell suggested a tub of warm water, but first let’s just try this.” He turned his body so that he faced Sonny, his back up against the arn of the sofa, his legs running on either side of Sonny’s, and placed Sonny’s soles against his own bare chest. “Oh, fuck! They are cold.”

Sonny giggled. “That feels so good. Stay right there!”

Luki couldn’t help but smile at his lover who could be a bit hedonistic in the best of circumstances. He saw Sonny watching him, and on a whim kissed the closest big toe. (The rest of the excerpt here)

They say the best flowers for apology are these sweetly blue bachelor's buttons, so I'm offering them here to all my readers.

Don't get me wrong. I realize it's not life changing for anyone that I haven't been posting here with my sometimes silly, or sappy, or sexy excerpts and news about books and the goings on in the world of Vasquez and James. Still, I feel bad that I've been absent, lately. Someone--I'm not sure who--said the best way to ruin an apology is with an excuse. True, but I'll offer a small explanation: My 84 year old dad has new diagnosis stage IV cancer, and I'm the only person available to help him negotiate his new medical world. It takes time, of course and energy.

Of course, I haven't been writing as much, but I have been writing, and some of what I've written has been at the insistence of Luki and Sonny. They know their suspense/thriller romance Finding Jackie is due out from Dreamspinner in May or June of 2013, but they decided we weren't done yet. The current suspense WIP is currently going by the title, Parting the Clouds. That title is the name of a warm-up excercise associated with tai chi, but it has another meaning for Luki, and for the story, too.

Sonny insisted that I allow him to go to Paris. (No really, he did.) Of course, Luki must follow. They see the Paris catacombs, a worthwile goal, but it might be under less than ideal conditions.... This is only work-in-progress, at the moment, but I'm thinking maybe a brief excerpt and some more news, maybe even a contest, within the next few days. I'd love to hear your thoughts on any of it!

I am being so bad, so jumping the gun! Dreamspinner hasn't yet told me that Finding Jackie is in--these things take time! But I can't help myself, I want to share! So here's a few lines here and there from the novel:
................................................................................................................................



At the Hawaiian wedding, Luki's Vow:

“Sonny, I promise to love you, never to try to change you, to trust you with my heart and with everything I have, and always to remember how precious, how fine, how beautiful you are to me. And I’ll keep you safe, Sonny. I’ll always keep you safe.”

................................................................................................................................



A little Sonny + Luki banter:

Riley squirreled away scattering sand. Before he was even out of sight, Luki asked, “What?”

Instead of answering, Sonny said, “That boy has a crush on you, Luki.”

“No.”

“No?”

“He has a crush on us,” Luki said. “He’d like to be a fly on our bedroom wall.”

“That’s worse!”

“Yes. Did you see him blush when you told him to come by the room? So, anyway, what’s the message?”

“It’s kinda cool, I think. The message I mean, not Riley’s amorphous lust.”

“Just to be clear, I don’t, won’t, play that. Ever.”

“Damn, Luki, I think that’s fairly obvious, thinking back a few months to the great big misunderstanding about him-who-shall-not-be-named.”

“Richard.”

“You weren’t supposed to invoke the name, Luki. Obvious I would think. I would think it’s also obvious that I don’t, won’t, wouldn’t ever want such entertainment either. Can I take you back a few days to the wedding? Remember I said, 'Only you?'”

“I know. I love you. Fuck Riley… or rather, don’t. You know what I mean."

................................................................................................................................



Lastly, Luki lends Sonny a bit of comfort:

Luki sighed and pulled Sonny up out of bed, drew him to stand against him, full contact. It wasn’t sex—well, sex was always there when they touched like that, but that wasn’t the purpose of the hug. When Luki wrapped his arms around Sonny it was solely with the idea of giving his beloved the opportunity to melt for a moment. Give him a few seconds where he didn’t have to be anything, not brave, or witty, or kind, or thoughtful, or angry, or scared.

Nothing.

And Sonny took advantage, or so it seemed to Luki. Despite the fact that Sonny was a couple of inches taller, Luki’s greater mass served as anchor and Sonny simply fell into him, laying his head on Luki’s shoulder and letting himself drift.

When Sonny moved, after a length of time that neither one measured, Luki walked him to the little bathroom, turned on the shower, adjusted the temperature, put Sonny in the shower, and washed him down with sponge, soap, water, and love. Throughout the process he murmured, “Let it go, baby,” and “It’ll be okay,” and “You’re beautiful and I love you.”

Cardeno C. has given Shirley Frances's review of Loving Luki Vasquez a second life at Cafe Risque! My thanks to both Cardeno C. and Shirley Frances for giving Luki and Sonny a little love.

Here's a line from the review:
I thoroughly enjoyed the dialog between these two. It was filled with humor, banter and deep emotion.

And here's my favorite line:
Wow, what a roller coaster!

But the reality is Shirley Frances's review is best read all of a piece, and I hope you'll check it out.